Religion-Bashing

[CD]

Lucky this dude doesn't post here.

Anti-Religion is still religion!

[DavidRoss]

Anti-Religion is still religion!

Sometimes, of course, but it need not be.  It could be sheer nihilism.  It could be (as seems usually the case) expected adolescent antipathy toward tradition and what's perceived as the status quo.  And it often seems due simply to ignorance and self-deception about the role that religion plays in human society, reminiscent of adolescent disdain for classical music based on the belief that, say, Montovani is an example of what classical music is like.

[karlhenning]

It could be sheer nihilism.

". . . Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of."

[Catison]

". . . Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of."

LOL, I was thinking the same thing!

[DavidRoss]

Me, too!

[karlhenning]

"I am the Walrus"

[david johnson]

Sometimes, of course, but it need not be.  It could be sheer nihilism.  It could be (as seems usually the case) expected adolescent antipathy toward tradition and what's perceived as the status quo.  And it often seems due simply to ignorance and self-deception about the role that religion plays in human society, reminiscent of adolescent disdain for classical music based on the belief that, say, Montovani is an example of what classical music is like.

mostly yes.

[Joe Barron]

Another:

[Joe Barron]

not really bashing:

[Florestan]

Ah, American church advertising is a delight!  

(Although the last two look just like the work of a bunch of freaks)

[71 dB]

Anti-Religion is still religion!

Well, that's not logical.  Anti-X can't be X. That's how "anti" is defined.

[karlhenning]

Well, that's not logical.  Anti-X can't be X. That's how "anti" is defined.

You're not thinking freely enough.  You've never heard of "equal and opposite reaction"?

Your pat dismissal is 'logical' in the comic 2-D ways of Mr Spock.

[Joe Barron]

Ah, American church advertising is a delight!  

(Although the last two look just like the work of a bunch of freaks)

You do realize I made these things up. You can make your own virtual church signs here. The freak is yours truly. 

[Harpo]

From a recent magazine article :

"Faith is a difficult word... Like God or soul or love, it repels definition. In The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defined faith as "belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." Faith is not an attachment to some supernatural order of facts. It is a way of living in the present, closer to a mindset or an attitude than a belief. Like any experience—like sweet or red or comfortable—faith can't be grasped through a definition. All you can do is describe situations where the experience might be had, and hope that those who have had it will recognize it....Faith is what's left when you stop responding to radical uncertainty with panic and denial."

[Harpo]

You do realize I made these things up. You can make your own virtual church signs here. The freak is yours truly. 

I thought they were hilarious. Unfortunately, here in the South there are real church signs almost as bad.

[Bulldog]

You're not thinking freely enough. 

That's a good one, Karl. 

[MishaK]

You do realize I made these things up. You can make your own virtual church signs here. The freak is yours truly.  

Yeah, "Cathloic" was kinda a giveaway.

[Joe Barron]

Yeah, "Cathloic" was kinda a giveaway. ;-)

Deleted.

I hate you.

[DavidRoss]

From a recent magazine article :

"Faith is a difficult word... Like God or soul or love, it repels definition. In The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defined faith as "belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." Faith is not an attachment to some supernatural order of facts. It is a way of living in the present, closer to a mindset or an attitude than a belief. Like any experience—like sweet or red or comfortable—faith can't be grasped through a definition. All you can do is describe situations where the experience might be had, and hope that those who have had it will recognize it....Faith is what's left when you stop responding to radical uncertainty with panic and denial."

Wow.  Bierce's is a very narrow and restricted, even perverted, view of "faith," not unlike the views that seem to be held by some of the folks who frequent this forum.  My own view has nothing of the supernatural in it (an aside--the supernatural is just natural phenomena we don't understand well enough to have predictive power about...yet).  Faith is a matter not so much of knowledge or belief as of reliance.  We have faith that the sun will "rise" tomorrow; that our spouses have our best interests at heart; that if a politician's lips are moving then s/he's lying; that the can of soda we're drinking hasn't been contaminated by deadly toxins.  Faith is rooted in empirical data. 

In short, thanks for sharing the excerpt, Harpo.  "Faith is what's left when you stop responding to radical uncertainty with panic and denial."  Yep.  Faith is a rational choice--perhaps the only rational choice for those unwilling to be paralyzed by doubt, dread, and fear.

[Elgarian]

My own view has nothing of the supernatural in it (an aside--the supernatural is just natural phenomena we don't understand well enough to have predictive power about...yet).  Faith is a matter not so much of knowledge or belief as of reliance.  We have faith that the sun will "rise" tomorrow; that our spouses have our best interests at heart; that if a politician's lips are moving then s/he's lying; that the can of soda we're drinking hasn't been contaminated by deadly toxins.  Faith is rooted in empirical data.

Quoted because it's worth reading more than once.